Top 10 most attractive cities for expats in 2012

The People’s Daily has published its list of the Top 10 Attractive Chinese Cities For Foreigners 2012, based on a survey of 175,400 expats “including Nobel Laureates, recipients of the Chinese Government Friendship Award and foreigners working in China”. Shanghai won (Hong Kong and Macau were excluded).#10 Qingdao

Qingdao is on the list thanks mainly to its favorable living environment. Its administrative environment, children’s education and level of globalization should all be improved, according to survey respondents.

Tianjin has a big advantage in terms of both its health care working environments. Although its policy environment requires improvement, the city was evaluated positively in terms of its related affairs procedure.

The city boasts an extremely attractive living environment; however its administration is generally cited as unsatisfactory due to institutional and procedural issues. Few foreigners gave [Nanjing] high marks for salary, although many were bullish about the city’s future work policies and their own career development opportunities.

Hangzhou ranks sixth thanks to its favorable living environment, especially its abundant natural environment. It did not receive high marks for its working and entrepreneurial environment and salary, but many foreigners there had high hopes for their own future career development opportunities in the city.

Kunming has advantages in terms of its administrative environment but it lacks cohesive policies to attract and hire talents. Kunming’s working and entrepreneurial environment also came in for some criticism. The city has an attractive living environment, but its healthcare and education environment should be improved, according to the survey.

Suzhou is a city with balanced development. It received high marks in its human settlement environment, working and entrepreneurial environment and promotion opportunities. Its administrative environment, however, should be improved, according to respondents.

Shenzhen is the third most attractive city, thanks to its attractive working environment, and especially its high salaries. The city received high marks in terms of its development plan, but its living environment was graded unsatisfactory, especially in terms of health care environment and children’s education.

The city is the second best city for foreigners to live in China, with its outstanding administrative environment, policy environment, health care environment and children’s education. However, its natural environment of habitat, working environment and traffic should be improved, the survey suggests.

Famous for its international atmosphere and multicultural environment, Shanghai is the most attractive city for foreigners. Similar to Beijing, its health care environment and children’s education are ranked favorable. The city’s weaknesses are its administrative and natural environments.

We live here.Feel free to argue in the comments about why Qingdao or Kunming are better than Nanjing and Hangzhou. Absurd suggestions that Beijing or Shenzhen are better than Shanghai will obviously not be tolerated.*Population figures from 2010 census**GDP figures from Wikipedia